I LOVE tapas, small dishes shared among friends. For NYE we had some friends over to our house in Ithaca, NY and put out a spread of organic/locally sourced tapas for everyone to nibble on throughout the night. I had been wanting to try more recipes from my EatPaleo app and was pleasantly surprised that I found almost every recipe from there, and they were all amazing!!! As to keep this post from being a mile long, I will provide links to each recipe rather than placing the entire recipe for each dish within the post. J and I had a lot of fun prepping and making these new dishes together. It was all made easier with the recent purchase of our KitchenAid mixer and spiralizer attachment! (video made by boomerang on Instagram)

Bombay Turkey Meatballs – Recipe found at www.peachypalate.com. These were just lovely. We discovered last minute that we didn’t actually have coriander and used dried parsley as a substitute. Loved the vibrant color of the pickled red cabbage which we chose to serve these tasty meatballs over.

Bombay Turkey Meatballs with Pickled Red Cabbage

Pomegranate Lime Brussels Sprouts – Recipe found at www.pdxfoodlove.com. The colors on this dish were amazingly festive! These brussels were such a nice switch from the usual balsamic roasted options, which are great as well, but it was fun to try out a new flavor! And boy were they tasty!

Pomegranate Lime Brussels Sprouts

Mango Veggie Noodle Bowls with Creamy Ginger Dressing – Recipe from www.getinspiredeveryday.com. Okay, these were hands down the prettiest tapas we served NYE. I was surprised at first that this is a raw dish, but that actually provided a lovely crunch to go along with an amazing combination of flavors. Our KitchenAidspiralizer made the most perfect zucchini noodles!

Mango Veggie Noodle Bowls with Creamy Ginger Dressing

Chorizo-Stuffed Mushrooms – Recipe found at www.janssushibar.com. While I try to refrain from eating pork and red meat, I will on special occasions. These stuffed mushrooms were probably my favorite dish of the night. We picked up the chorizo from our local butcher, The Piggery, who has the best locally sourced, pasture raised meat in town.

Chorizo-Stuffed Mushrooms

Tuna Salad Cucumber Bites – Recipe from www.healingandeating.com. J loves seafood, I do not, with the exception of the occasional shrimp dish. I’m also not a cucumber fan but he is. When I found this recipe, he was pretty excited. Thinking it would be a hit with most of our party goers we added it to the list, and it turned out to be a winner. J was a pretty happy guy too as I found him coming back for more throughout the night, with him proclaiming that they were addicting! Since these weren’t for me, I used organic mayo rather that the coconut oil mayo used in the orginial recipe.

Tuna Cucumber Bites

Thyme Roasted Carrots – Recipe found at www.ahouseinthehills.com. We had quite a few bunches of carrots left in the house so I began searching for a way to use them for our party. At first glance you’d think this recipe was simply to roast carrots in olive oil and thyme, but it’s so much more. The recipe includes a delicious glaze made from maple syrup, coconut oil, and orange juice. Loved the outcome of these, incredible flavor!

Thyme Roasted Carrots

Creamy Avocado, Artichoke, and Kale Dip – Recipe found at www.blissfulbasil.com. I remember back in the day when I first started cooking and bringing spinach with artichoke dip to a party was my standby. All of that yummy cream cheese and gooey melted cheese on top, served with sea salt pita chips. Well not so conducive to eating clean. Stumbling across this recipe was a great find and it was nice to switch things up from the guacamole often seen at parties. But hey guac is great too! The fresh lemon and garlic in this dip really brought out the flavors. We served this will blue corn tortilla chips (for our guests) and these amazing, paleo-friendly almond crackers made by Simple Mills, that I found at GreenStar. I also sprinkled a little paprika over the dip for some extra color.

Creamy Avocado, Artichoke and Kale Dip

Balsamic Kale with Cranberries – Recipe found at www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com. For this recipe we used dried cranberries sweetened only with apple juice also bought from our local co-op, GreenStar. We already had all of the ingredients at home so making this was a no-brainer. Another festive and tasty dish to ring in the new year.

Balsamic Kale with Cranberries

Baked Salmon Served on Chilled Himalayan Salt Block – We didn’t even need a recipe for this dish. We successfully experimented with cooking shrimp on our Himalayan salt block but wanted to try a chilled dish. We put our block in the freezer overnight, and it became unbelievably cold! While at GreenStar, I picked up some wild caught, already baked, Atlantic salmon.Given my aversion to fish, I had J slice up the salmon and assemble it on our chilled salt block just before our guests arrived. The subtle hint of pink Himalayan salt brought out the flavor of the salmon. Plus it just looks so pretty using it as a serving platter!

Baked Salmon Served on a Chilled Himalayan Salt Block

Desserts:

We also served two dairy free, sugar free, vegan friendly, paleo friendly desserts, which I forgot to photograph at that point in the night, oops! But regardless of lack of documentation, these were too good to not mention.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse – Recipe found at www.theironyou.com. OMG was this good. I’ve been experimenting a lot with clean eating desserts and some of it has been hit or miss. This was by far the most delicious and easiest recipe I’ve found. It takes just three simple ingredients (four if you include vanilla, which we did). I was worried that it would have a strong coconut flavor due to using coconut milk, but it did not! It was also a breeze to make in our KitchenAid.

Crock-Pot Hot Chocolate (Vegan, Dairy-Free, Paleo) – Recipe found at www.tasty-yummies.com. Our menu was completely set when I stumbled across this recipe a friend had shared on Facebook. I just couldn’t say no! This hot cocoa is so easy to make, just mixing the ingredients in a slow cooker and letting it work it’s magic. The result? Super smooth, rich and creamy hot cocoa that is simply divine. We served this with various liquors for a fun adult treat at our party.

Throwing a tapas party involves a fair amount of prep in the kitchen. But J and I truly enough that time together and experimenting with different flavors and recipes. Many of these recipes would also make great side dishes for a meal as well. Happy eating and Happy New Year!!

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